Baylor starts work at kids hospital

By Peggy O'Hare :
July 1, 2013
: Updated: July 1, 2013 9:29pm

Harvey Najim (center) and his Najim Family Foundation donated $3 million to Children's Hospital of San Antonio. At left, is John Bel, the hospital foundation's vice president and chief development officer.

Christus Santa Rosa regional CEO Patrick Carrier referred to the shift as a “sea change,” noting the move will allow the downtown children's hospital to expand its services and offer some procedures — such as bone marrow transplants — for the first time.

The transition from UT Medicine pediatrics faculty to Baylor pediatrics faculty should be complete by May 2014.

In a San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board meeting Monday, Carrier also said he doesn't think San Antonio can support three children's hospitals in the long run. But he declined to say which facilities he thinks will succeed and which will falter.

“I'm giving you my personal opinion,” Carrier told the board. “At some point in time, the market dynamics will play out such that there will be one significant facility, potentially two.”

Baylor arrived to launch a pediatrics teaching program in San Antonio after Christus and UTHSC severed ties. UTHSC, which was long the only medical school in San Antonio, partnered last year with a Christus competitor to build a new academic pediatric hospital in the South Texas Medical Center. The facility, which is expected to open in 2016 or 2017, will be San Antonio's third children's hospital.

So far, 29 Baylor faculty members have signed contracts to practice at Children's Hospital of San Antonio. Almost all of them went through orientation Monday. An additional 42 are in the process of signing contracts, and 25 more will be interviewed this summer.

Around 100 Baylor faculty members will be in service there by year's end. In two years, that number is expected to double, Carrier said. The hospital will continue to have an “open staff” model, meaning private physicians will continue to practice there as well, he said.

There are no residents in training at the children's hospital yet: The teaching program is being developed and will likely begin accepting students in July 2015.

Ultimately, the hospital is expected to have more faculty members and more medical school residents with Baylor than it did during its previous partnership with UTHSC, said Dr. Mark Gilger, the hospital's chief pediatrician and a Baylor pediatrics professor.

Christus also celebrated a $3 million donation to its downtown children's hospital Monday from local philanthropist and business owner Harvey Najim and his Najim Family Foundation. The gift will be used for the ongoing construction of the new pediatric hospital facilities.

In April, San Antonio billionaire Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury pledged $20 million to the project.